To describe individual and group variations in human sexual behavior
using taxonomic methods (primarily concerned with the measurement of
variation in series of individuals that stand as representatives of
the species being studied) from biology. Kinsey sought to accummulate
"an objectively determined body of fact about sex" (p. 5 Male)
that readers of the reports could use to make interpretations that fit
with their understanding of "moral values and social significances"
(p. 5, Male). He looked at quantifiable male sexual "outlets"
to orgasm: masturbation, nocturnal emissions, heterosexual petting,
heterosexual intercourse, homosexual relations, and intercourse with
animals of other species; and at what factors might account for variations
in sexual behavior, including marital status, age, educational level,
occupational class, rural-urban background, religious group, geographic
origin, and age at adolescence. He then compiled data for the female.
Data was gathered from 1938 to 1963, when the project was closed.

Sample:

5300 white males and 5940 white females provided almost all the data,
with the majority of participants being younger white adults with some
college education. (This part of the sample is referred to as the "College
Sample.") Kinsey tried to compensate for volunteer bias in his sample
by interviewing 100% of the individuals available in a given organization
or group. Approximately 25% of the sex histories came from these 100%
groups. (Kinsey did not believe a random sample was possible.)

Method:

Kinsey used in-depth, face-to-face interviews by highly trained interviewers.
In each history a subject would be questioned on up to 521 items, depending
on his/her specific experience (the average in each case being near
300). Histories covered social and economic data, physical and physiologic
data, marital histories, sexual outlets, heterosexual histories, and
homosexual histories.

11% of males reported, in marriage, a frequency of anal sex ranging from
a single attempt to often, (Table 334, p. 383, Kinsey Data, College
Sample, as corrected by data analysis of computer tape, 4/93).

There is little data in the original Kinsey Studies regarding heterosexual
or homosexual anal sex. Kinsey found some anal play in some of the male
marital histories and occasional instances of anal coitus but not enough
to determine "the incidence of individuals who are specifically responsive
to such stimulation," (p. 579, Male). He reported, among the
male homosexual, occasional individuals brought to orgasm anally, (p.
579, Male). For females, Kinsey said that good incidence data
was not available, (p. 585, Female).

Kinsey estimated that nearly 46% of the male population had engaged
in both heterosexual and homosexual activities, or "reacted to" persons
of both sexes, in the course of their adult lives (p. 656, Male).
11.6% of white males (ages 20-35) were given a rating of 3 (about equal
heterosexual and homosexual experience/response) on the 7-point Kinsey
Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale for this period of their lives
(Table 147, p. 651, Male).

Females:

Kinsey found only a very small portion of females with exclusively
homosexual histories. He reported that between 6 and 14% of females
(ages 20-35) had more than incidental homosexual experience in their
histories. (p. 488, Female). 7% of single females (ages 20-35)
and 4% of previously married females (ages 20-35) were given a rating
of 3 (about equal heterosexual and homosexual experience/response) on
the 7-point Kinsey Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale for this period
of their lives.(Table 142, p. 499, Female).

In the discussion of marital coitus in the Male volume, Kinsey
speculated that for perhaps three-fourths of all males, orgasm was reached
within 2 minutes after initiation of coitus, and reported this as a frequent
source of marital conflict (p. 580, Male).

Positions, Coital

Kinsey found the most frequently reported coital position to be male-above,
and the most common variant position to be female-above.

Females:

100% used male-above position in marital coitus

45% used female above

31% used side-by-side positions

15% rear vaginal entry

9% sitting; and 4% standing (p.400, Female)

Males:

In the Male volume, Kinsey estimated that as much as 70%
of the population only used the male-above position in coitus, (p.
578, Male).

In about 35% of the male College Sample histories the female-above-male
position was used (Table 95, p. 372, Male).

Preference for Coitus in Light or in the Dark:

40% of the males in the sample preferred to have sexual activities
in some light

19% of the females preferred to have sexual activities in some light,
(p. 664-5, Female)

Erogenous Zones

The Kinsey interviews showed that there is no part of the human body
which is not sufficiently sensitive to effect erotic arousal for at least
some individuals in the population. He estimated that breasts and especially
the nipples of the breasts were erotically sensitive in perhaps half of
the females (with breast stimulation alone sufficient for orgasm in a
very small percentage of females), (p. 157, 161, Female). There
were some 2 % of females who even by their late 40s had never recognized
any sexual arousal under any sort of condition. (p. 512, Female

Kinsey said in both the Male and Female volumes that
it was impossible to determine the number of persons who are "homosexual"
or "heterosexual". It was only possible to determine behavior at any given
time. (See Kinsey's Heterosexual-Homosexual
Rating Scale.)

Instances of at least one same-sex experience to orgasm:

37% of males

13% of females, (p. 650, Male, p. 475, Female)

Males:

10% of males in the sample were predominantly homosexual between the
ages of 16 and 55

8% of males were exlusively homosexual for at least three years between
the ages of 16 and 55. (p. 651, Male)

4% of white males had been exclusively homosexual after the onset
of adolescence up to the time of their interviews, (p. 651, Male).

Females:

2 to 6% of females, aged 20-35, were more or less exclusively homosexual
in experience/response, (p. 488, Female)

45% of females who reported having masturbated indicated that they
could reach orgasm within 3 minutes (p. 163, Female).

Masturbation techniques reported by females:

84% used clitoral and labial manipulation

20% used vaginal insertion

11% used breast stimulation

10% used thigh pressure

5% muscular tension

2% had fantasy alone to reach orgasm; and

11% used other techniques (p. 189, Female)

Masturbation was the most important sexual outlet for single females
and the second most important sexual outlet for married females, providing:
7-10% of orgasms for those 16-40 (p. 525, 532, Female). In males,
masturbation after marriage occurred with reduced frequency (p. 507, Male).

For further female/male comparisons of masturbation, see p. 173, Female.

Kinsey found that attitudes toward nudity differed by level of education
and socioeconomic status. Still, about half (41%) of males in the College
Sample reported sleeping nude, and half of the married females in the
sample had regularly slept nude, (p. 366 Male and p. 365, Female).

10% of all females in the sample had never reached orgasm in their marital
coitus, (footnote, Table 113, p. 408, Female). 39-47% of females
reported reaching orgasm in nearly all of their marital coitus, (Table
112, p. 408, Female). About 50% of females had experienced orgasm
by age 20; about 90% by age 35. (p. 513, Female)

Multiple Orgasm:

Males: 15-20% of males in their teens and twenties reported that they
were capable of repeated orgasm in a limited period of time. Kinsey stated
that most men lost this capacity by age 30 or 40, (p. 233, Male).

For comparisons of orgasm in marital coitus, see p. 392-393, Female.

Nocturnal Sex Dreams and Orgasms:

Approximately two-thirds of females reported overtly sexual dreams (and
Kinsey estimated over the life course that 70% of females experienced
sex dreams), and almost 100% of the males (p. 196, 215, Female).

By age 45, 37% of females in the sample had experienced a sex dream with
orgasm (p. 196, Female); Kinsey reported that 83% of males reported
nocturnal emissions, with or without dreams (p. 518-199, Male).

The frequencies with which the average female had nocturnal orgasms stayed
fairly constant for single and married females of all ages (adolescence
to 50 yrs. old), (p. 200, Female). The highest incidence (70%)
and frequency for males came in the late teens, but declined in the thirties,
(p. 523, Male).

In the male, the average maximum sexual frequencies for the total sexual
outlets occur between 16 and 20, (Table 45, on p. 226, and Table 60, on
p. 266, Male).

In the female, solitary sexual activities (such as masturbation, nocturnal
dreams to orgasm) gradually rise to their maximum point. They level off
and then decline after 55 or 60 years of age. (p. 353, Female).
Kinsey thought that female instance of coitus was dependent on the male's
sexual behavior. (p. 353-4, Female).

Kinsey's studies do not say much about sadomasochistic behaviors. Some
12% of females and 22% of males reported having an erotic response to
a sadomasochistic story, and 55% of females and 50% of males reported
having responded erotically to being bitten, (p. 677-8, Female).

The above data have been provided for quick reference. We have tried
to present this data in a clear and concise way; something made difficult
by the complexity of Kinsey's monographs. If you have questions about
the above data, or need further information, contact Information Services.